Stefan D. Baugh

Age: 34, PartnerKatten Muchin Rosenman L.L.P., Washington, D.C.

Stefan D. Baugh loves all things Jamaican: from oxtail with butter beans over white rice (his favorite dish) to staying abreast of the country’s politics (his uncle is the deputy prime minister of Jamaica). “I was born into a political family, so I can’t get away from it,” says Baugh, a partner at the Washington, D.C., law firm Katten Muchin Rosenman L.L.P, where he specializes in commercial real estate transactions.

Baugh migrated to the United States as a teenager and became adept at moving between the two worlds with the switch of his accent. “Whenever my wife and I would go out with our friends, we would talk to them with an American accent, but whenever we turned to talk to each other we’d switch back to our Jamaican accent, to the amazement of our friends,” explains Baugh, who married his high-school sweetheart.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Towson University in Maryland and graduated from Virginia’s William & Mary School of Law in 2000 to become an attorney like his father. He worked at law firms in Virginia and Maryland before joining Katten Muchin Rosenman in 2006. By 2008, he was a partner in the firm’s Real Estate Group. “It’s great to receive that validation from your peers — that you’ve worked hard to make partner.”

An adrenaline “junkie,” Baugh enjoys traveling to Montreal with his best friends to watch the Formula 1 car races, and flying the small planes owned by one of his relatives in Jamaica. “I obtained my private pilot’s license when I was in law school, and whenever I’m back home on a visit, I get in the plane and go,” he says.